Bearkats take second to Colorado University Buffalos in SHSU volleyball tournament

The Sam Houston State Volleyball team’s motto this year is “respect all, fear none,” and that’s what they did this past weekend as they took second place in the 26th annual Sam Houston Volleyball Classic after a loss to Colorado University.

They were able to pick up two wins over University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas Southern.

The Bearkats started the tournament by coming back to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette in five sets after being down two sets to one and trailing 20-16 in the fourth set.

The following match also went to five sets but this time the Bearkats were the ones who endured the heart-breaking loss to Colorado. The Kats were up two sets to none and led 18-16 before they let it slip though their fingers.

“I believe that my team can play with anybody,” Kats head coach Brenda Gray said.  “I think the tempo of the match got so slow and so disorienting.” Gray said it was hard for the team to stay in the flow of what they were doing.

“It was hard to stay in the flow of what we were doing. We’re going to have a great year. You’ve got to learn from your losses just like you learn from your wins. We could have beaten Colorado.  It just slipped away.”

Colorado would end up winning the entire tournament.

“We played with heart, intensity,” Sophomore Deveney Wells-Gibson said. “I think we can hang with anybody, don’t underestimate us because we’re in the Southland Conference. Wells-Gibson believes the team came out playing well but let off the accelerator in the fourth and fifth games.

“It’s a whole different team this year; we have surprises up our sleeves.”

The Bearkats finished the weekend strongly as they defeated the Texas Southern Tigers three sets to none.

Sam Houston now stands at 2-2 on the season and will presume play on Friday as they take on Kansas University in Kansas.